DESIGNER Focus

Showcasing couture-like craftsmanship, the brand’s beautifully embellished designs will transform the simplest of outfits. Tell us about a time in which your brand has impacted someone positively?

All the women wearing Caovilla Shoes are impacted positively! Many of our customers write us directly to say how proud they are when they wear one of our creation and how they feel special with a pair of Caovilla. Rihanna, Jennifer Lopez, Bella Hadid, Kylie Minogue and Rita Ora are some of the most known that appreciate our iconic product and wear them regularly for the embellishment, comfort and design. The list goes on.

You are currently pioneering a significant project through which the stages of scouting and recruiting of young designers are the starting point, to showcase and convey the deepest values of René Caovilla shoe making art. Why do you feel that it is important to provide a platform for tomorrow’s aspiring shoe designers?

I think it can be a springboard for a desire to highlight, spread and communicate René Caovilla’s love of luxurious and elegant footwear by supporting the talent of new generations. Thanks to this project they will have the great opportunity to work closely with the creative team and with the most skilled craftspeople in the footwear business. They will become involved in every stage of producing a René Caovilla collection and learning the dynamics that underpin the success of a business rooted in the industrial fabric of the Italian footwear sector. Tell us more about the craftsmanship of René Caovilla shoes, and how long it takes for an artisan to finish a pair.

We need more or less a week.

How do you source your artisans and are there any strict guidelines that they need to follow to allow the shoes to be stocked in store and maintain such a leading-edge quality control?

As Aristotle used to say “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit” Habits which we have been following for three generations. Our craftsmen rely on these secrets and help us to improve them. Are there any outside influences that inspire your designs other than Venetian artistry to allow the final design to ‘become the expression of a dream’?

Venice has always had and still has a great bearing on my knowledge, education and expression. Everyone goes to Venice and there’s a great deal of art exhibitions which take place in Venice influencing me. I was most certainly lucky and honored to be living in Venice.

What is your plan for the near future, and where do you hope to take René Caovilla in the next five to ten years?

I hope to be able to take the company to the awareness which it deserves. It’s not a product for everyone and I’d like its style, consistency and quality to be more and more aspirational.

Are you open to a collaboration with any other brands?

We had some interesting collaborations in the past but nowadays we prefer to be focused on our growth and we want to strengthen our brand identity.

If you had to summarise the DNA of René Caovilla today would you say that it has had to adapt, due to the evolving preferences of consumers?

The DNA of Caovilla is summarised in Venice, our city and iconic inspiration, Caovilla is an incomparable heritage of three generations. When compared to other brands, Caovilla, is the only one directly liaising to the beauty of Venice. Craftmanship is a core component because every single shoe is handmade by our artisans and has been in our factory since 1929. Caovilla creates couture shoes with handmade craftsmanship and unparalleled excellence. We at Caovilla play the subtle game of transforming iconic shapes into a new desirable classic whilst all of our shoes are completely handmade in Italy.

Quality is also imperative to the Caovilla DNA as it is a brand of cultured luxury that prioritises the care of details, the quality and it continuously grows with its own style, satisfying the preferences of our global customers.

When you start to design your next pair of shoes do you have a select target audience or canvas in mind?

What changes is the message our customer aims to deliver in that moment, not the energy and dedication with which this shall be delivered.

Tell us a fun fact that we may not know about either yourself or the creation of your shoes?

The shoes materialise themselves as I’m waking up. When I’m thinking about the creation process of a certain shoe during the evening I often happen to see it when waking up! That is the reason why I usually go to the office so early.

Rene Caovilla is exclusively available at Saks Fifth Avenue, City Centre Bahrain.